For a project I was working on in class, we were to develop an identity for a paper company that brought to the market a new, or alternate, style paper product for use. As usual some ideas were interesting, others not so much – rubber from the soles of used shoes, metal sheets, flower petals and plant leaves, and tree’s grown with a much stronger environmental consciousness in mind. In steps my idea – out of left field. “I know! I will use Kelp to produce my product! Forget used soles, forget getting a tree product from land-based means. Let’s think ENTIRELY left field and get it from, as Captain Nemo proclaims, the true giver of life on earth. THE SEA!”

With this revolation the idea of Kelp (Sea Paper Company) was born. The image above the the final logo concept I distilled from many, many ideas. With this came a color combination just enough to be different, but close enough to common green mindsets that it did not make it uncomfortable. This pallet should evoke the recognition of a brand that is environmentally conscious all the while, their tints should give a sharp and somewhat edgier appearance. The company, Kelp, itself is entirely fictitious and the brand design was made to immediately appear as if Kelp was a company of free-thinking, fun loving, young-at-heart, all the while serious business people coming together to help the environment all the while delivering a product that designers and end-users could thorougly enjoy. Green and fasionable? PLEASE – can you go wrong?

For the identity I mixed two type faces I have to say I have fallen for, and find surprisingly they work well together – Bodoni MT “(Sea Paper Co.)” and the infamous Cooper Black “Kelp”. The rounded shapes of the type in “Kelp” work well with the kelp symbol being injected into the type, replacing that of the “l” in the word itself. This move maintains the readibility of the type and the word as a whole, all the while empowering the fun-loving, yet clever spirit of the company itself.